


little weapons learning to dream

by Primarybufferpanel (ArwenLune)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Cute, Gen, Jedi Temple (Star Wars), The Jedi Order, Vague references to Maul's canonically horrific youth, Zabraks (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:47:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29364978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLune/pseuds/Primarybufferpanel
Summary: The Jedi Order finds itself with two de-aged Nightbrothers on its hands. They do their best. It's the Jedi way.
Comments: 24
Kudos: 264





	little weapons learning to dream

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blackkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/gifts).
  * Inspired by [little soldiers in a row](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29287386) by [blackkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat). 



> I read Blackkat's lovely story and was immediately awash with OMG NOW THE JEDI HAVE A TODDLER MAUL AND SAVAGE TO DEAL WITH and I got thinking about what that might be like.

The two Masters of the Creches struck a formidable figure, facing the council together. Master Yaddle, who had seen all present council members—bar Master Yoda himself—through her creche rooms. And towering over her, Master Ogengi, a four meter tall Benathy and one of the largest Jedi currently in residence. Her huge furry form could frequently be seen carrying a whole clan of giggling younglings through the temple.

The latter pursed her lips around her tusks.

"No. Absolutely not."

Master Windu tried not to sigh. He'd seen this coming. He didn't usually have visions, but this exact discussion had spun out before his mind's eye from the moment the Guard had commed to say they were bringing to the temple not only a toddler aged Kit Fisto, but two toddler aged Sith warriors as well.

"I am not saying we should keep them in a cell," he said patiently. "But that we should set up a special contained nursery room for them on a different level. So that when they suddenly revert to their adult selves, we do not have two Sith warriors in a room full of our younglings."

"We can't keep them isolated," Master Ogengi said, something of pleading in her voice. "We don't know how long this will take, and they need to be around other younglings."

"Why is that necessary?" Master Drallig asked. Not really arguing, Mace thought, but wanting to hear the reasoning.

"Because Savage freezes every time he hears a humanoid female voice, and Maul has only talked to the helper droid. In _binary_ ," Ogengi sighed. "I asked him, via the droid, what his name is, and he said he is called You. We will not treat young children as prisoners for what their adult selves have done. They need kindness and socialisation, not to be locked up."

Mace could concede that. He'd seen the children when they were brought in. Kit sitting on Commander Fox's left hip, happily clinging to the man's shoulder while he babbled. On the other hip a small yellow-and-black Zabrak, horns only just breaching. He'd been quiet, looking around with huge eyes, but he'd clearly been familiar with being carried, legs clamped around Fox's waist, leaning into the hand on his back as he looked around the temple hall.

Maul was another story. Apparently it had been a fight getting him to come along at all, and he was wary and tense in Commander Stone's arms, small body poised exactly as far away from the man's helmet as he could balance himself without falling. He hadn't held on to the man at all, and that had made something clench uneasily in Mace's stomach. What child didn't have the reflexes to hang on to the adult carrying them?

He'd always thought the brothers had grown up together and been separated later, when the Sith lord took Maul as his apprentice. Given how different their reaction was right now, it had to have been much younger than Mace had expected.

Yaddle, silent until now, was visibly working up to a 'young man' speech, so Mace took the wind out of her sails.

"I respect the expertise of the Masters of the Creche. You know best how to care for them. How do you propose to do so while keeping the other younglings safe?"

"At night a separate room," she said, giving him a look that said she knew exactly what he was doing. "With temple guard outside."

Master Drallig nodded that he'd have the guards available.

"The two of them in a room? What if they need someone? Or one of them has a nightmare?" Depa asked.

"I do not believe either of them is used to having someone to call upon at night," Yaddle said. "We can leave the helper droid with them. Maul will likely prefer that."

"And then in the morning I will pick them up and bring them to the creche for the day," Master Ogengi added.

Mace idly wondered if Maul would take any better to that than to being carried by Commander Stone. He supposed at least Benathy fur was thick enough that Zabrak toddler teeth and claws, no matter how sharp, couldn't do much damage.

"And if they age back during the day?" he asked. "Your attention will need to be on getting the younglings away from them and guarding them. There should be somebody extra, who is there just for the two of them."

Of course, if the brothers did suddenly become adults, there weren't that many Jedi who could stand against them. Even without their lightsabers.

"We could have guards there," Master Drallig offered.

"Outside the creche, yes. I won't have a squad of temple guard inside the creche, worrying the younglings."

"I am willing to spend time in the creche to guard against that," Agen Kolar spoke up. "If more of us are, we can draw up a roster."

Master's Yaddle and Ogengi looked at each other and then nodded that this was acceptable. There was some more discussion about how to handle the situation, and they landed on Agen volunteering to be the primary presence for at least the coming week, since his battalion was on leave. Plo Koon, Eeth Koth and Mace himself would relieve Agen for periods when they had the time.

The council had another discussion about what to do with the brothers once they returned to their adult state. Proof of Palpatine's Sith status was emerging, which meant that the brothers had both assassinated the Chancellor of the Republic and ridded the galaxy of the man responsible for billions of deaths.

Mace didn't think the Republic in its current shell-shocked state was capable of anything resembling a fair trial for two darksiders with such a complicated history, and it was not the Jedi Order's purview to put them on trial even for their crimes committed against the Jedi.

He didn't think it was the just option, given everything, but Mace thought that if the men escaped their room at night and left the temple without causing major injury, that was far from the worst case scenario he could think of. The Temple Guard knew its primary duty would be to protect the temple, not to contain the brothers.

* * *

Mace came into the creche expecting to relieve Agen of the guard duty for a couple of hours, but the other man was lounging on the ground in the cushion corner, legs stretched out in front of him. He was speaking to an overwhelmed looking Savage in a low, gentle tone. Mace sat down on a chair near the arched entryway of this designated quiet space, just watching.

Most of the younglings were having quiet time in the main creche space, snoozing on soft mats or curled up with Master Ogengi to listen to a story. The Opress boys never joined them; Maul refused to, and it was preferable to keep them together and close to whoever was guarding them. Kit sometimes joined the brothers, sometimes went with the others. Today the lure of a story in Master Ogengi's giant furry arms had proven too tempting to resist.

After a few moments Savage approached to lean against Agen's side, ear pressed to the Jedi Master's chest, and Mace knew Agen was purring, the low content sensation of it resonating in the force. It had to be either familiar or instinctive to Savage, because after a few moments the boy plopped down and curled up in the crook of Agen's arm, head still on his chest. His higher-toned baby purrs joined Agen's in the force, and it made Mace smile to see them like this.

Maul watched them both from his perch on top of the climbing frame. There was a small platform there inside the frame, and it seemed to be where he felt most comfortable; he even kept his furtive stash of treasure there. One was a specific one of the hundreds of interchangeable creche cups that he'd decided was special. The other a small knit blanket with red and brown geometric patterns. Kit, as good natured a child as he was as an adult and now Mace's indisputable favourite outside his own lineage, had given it to Maul, who rarely let go of it unless he realised an adult was watching.

The Jedi tried to teach their younglings not to lay claim, not to be possessive of things. But that was not a lesson that could be taught unless a child was secure in having their needs met.

Maul didn't interact with the other children much; after a snarly start most of the younglings gave him a wide berth, and he seemed to have no idea how to connect with them. He _wanted_ all the things it was normal for a young child to want: contact, attention, toys—but couldn't ask for them, and perhaps had been taught those things were not for him. The frustration of it would build up and boil over mixed with shame and fear, and that was a potent mix to even begin to untangle. Yaddle, Mace, Agen and Plo had all spent significant amounts of time meditating with the boy in the nine days since he and Savage arrived.

Maul was passive with Kit and even with Savage, rarely seeking them out. He didn't really seem to know how to make contact, but he watched them almost constantly, especially their interactions with adults. Now he clambered down, his little face thoughtful.

Savage had, from what Mace had picked up, grown up in a village of Nightbrothers. Slaves, yes, a hard life certainly, but there had been community. Somebody to hold him and talk to him, and to purr with him so he learned what that meant.

They were so different even at this age, that Maul had to have been taken away younger. By Sidious. By _Palpatine_ , they now knew. Too young to remember other Nightbrothers, or caring adults, or anything much beyond sterile rooms and harsh corrections and mostly only a droid for company.

He was clearly curious about why his brother was with Agen, but it took long minutes before he got over his wariness enough to approach. Agen, watching through lazy, half-lidded eyes, spoke in a low voice.

"Your brother and I are purring together. Would you like to come listen?"

Maul hesitated, and Agen demonstratively tucked his hand behind his own head, leaving his side wide open.

Mace gently distracted and redirected the Wookie youngling who saw that inviting gesture and wanted to join the snuggle too. It was hard enough to get Maul to trust that such an offer from an adult was genuine and safe; Mace didn't think they were ready for what would happen if the opportunity was snatched up by another child before Maul could bring himself to accept.

Agen yawned wide, and Savage, eyes drooping, yawned too.

Maul glanced at Mace, apparently deemed him safe enough, and finally approached Agen to crouch down and press his little black-barred fingers against Agen's chest. Agen let out a low rumbling purr and stretched, toes pointed, a deliberate show of comfort and relaxation.

Mace caught himself breathing slow and soft when Maul folded his legs under himself and pressed his ear against Agen's chest, little hands tangling in his robes. After a while the tension went out of his body, and he started to purr in soft fits and starts, as if it was happening outside of his control.

It was painfully possible that he'd never had reason to purr before.

Mace concentrated for a moment on that prized, carefully hidden knit blanket and lifted it down with the force, lightly draping it over the boy. Maul's breath caught at the unexpected touch and his head shot up. Agen said something soothing under his breath, and after a moment he subsided, hands clutching at the edge of the blanket.

After a while, the three-tone purr started back up, and Mace could see Maul's fingers kneading at the blanket.

Agen met Mace's eyes with a kind of endeared agony in his face, and Mace understood the sentiment all too well. Getting to know these boys and caring for them went naturally with taking pleasure in seeing them gain trust and confidence. It however mixed very uneasily with knowing exactly who they were as adults, what evils they had committed. Knowing that the magics would wear off. That they would not have these boys long enough to change those adults.

But wanting to try, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> they escape without inflicting more than some bruises and a concussion, disappear, and a few weeks later there is a mysterious attack on the Nightsister compound on Dathomir. All the Nightbrothers just.. disappear. Weird, right?


End file.
